


Two Paths

by elevenoclock



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-11
Updated: 2011-09-11
Packaged: 2017-10-23 15:24:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/251925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elevenoclock/pseuds/elevenoclock
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a blue box standing at the corner of Privet Drive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Paths

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the September 10/11 round of The New Pub (http://thenewpub.livejournal.com/). Two parts, both written in 20 minutes for the prompts "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood" and "seagulls". Join us over at the New Pub every Saturday (4 PM US)!

_TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,  
And sorry I could not travel both   
And be one traveler, long I stood   
And looked down one as far as I could   
To where it bent in the undergrowth;_ ("The Road Not Taken", Robert Frost)

 

 **The First Path**

There's a blue box standing at the corner of Privet Drive. There wasn't a box there yesterday, Harry remembers, when he had to walk to the store to get Panadol for Aunt Petunia because her head hurt. But there's a blue box there now, a really big one with words on the side. The words say POLICE BOX, and Harry knows this because he's the best reader in his class, even his teacher says so, but also because Uncle Vernon threatened to send him to the Police Station if he was naughty and he saw the words on the big, scary building when Uncle drove them past it.

There's also a funny man standing outside the box. He has a map, but it's not a map like any Harry has ever seen. This one is shaped in a weird box, and the man is turning it around and muttering.

Aunt Petunia said Harry mustn't talk to strangers, but she didn't say he couldn't watch them, and the man looks so funny that Harry can't help but stand there.

The man notices Harry a moment later. He looks up, blinks, and chucks the box over his shoulder. It lands in the box behind him, but the man doesn't seem to notice or care.

"Hullo there," the man says. "Would you happen to know when I am?"

Harry keeps his mouth shut.

The man waits.

"I'm not to talk to strangers," Harry says obediently. Harry had talked to an old lady once with really weird glasses, and Uncle Vernon had caught him and put him in the cupboard for two weeks.

The man kneels down so that he's on eye level with Harry. He holds out his hand. "I'm the Doctor," he says. "Who are you?"

"Harry," Harry says. He shakes the mans hand, because Aunt Petunia _also_ told him that he must be polite.

"Well now we're not strangers anymore, are we?" the man asks cheerfully.

Harry shrugs.

"So, when-abouts am I, then?"

"You're in Surrey. Little Whinging, actually," Harry says. He can point to this on a map now, and he can find where Surrey is on the globe in the classroom, but only London is marked which Harry doesn't think is really fair.

"Thank you, Harry," the man says, solemnly. "But _when_ am I?"

Harry blinks. He's never been asked this before. "It's Saturday," he says. "July 30." He pauses, then adds, "Tomorrow is my seventh birthday!"

The man's eyes widen. "Harry," he says, but he doesn't seem to be looking _at_ Harry. "Harry, Harry, July 31... Harry, what's your last name?"

"Potter," he says.

The man smiles.

"Harry Potter," the man says. "Of course you are. Harry Potter. It is an honor to meet you, little Harry."

"'m not little," Harry says. He is, of course, especially compared to Dudley, but he doesn't like when people tease him about it.

"This is very true," the man says. "You're just Right Sized, I'd say. But Harry, Harry Potter, how would you like to have a really amazing birthday present?" He looks over his shoulder, and points to the blue box. "You see that? That's a space ship, and it can take us _anywhere_ in the _entire_ universe that you want to go. How about it?"

Harry's never had a birthday present before. He looks at the box, and at the funny man who says he's a doctor, but is a lot more interesting than Harry's doctor who pokes and prods him.

It's very tempting.

Harry thought space ships would look more like rockets, but this is the first one he's seen, so maybe they look like big blue boxes, too?

And he would like to go, ever so much.

Except.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Doctor," he says politely. "If I miss tea time, then no one will be around to serve Dudley his biscuits, and Aunt Petunia will be very cross with me." He turns to go.

"Harry," the Doctor calls. He stands back up, watching Harry with a strange look on his face. "It was very nice to meet you, Harry."

"It was very nice to meet you, too, Mr. Doctor," Harry says, and turns to run home before he's late.

The box is gone when he comes back the next day.

 

 **The Second Path**

 _Harry Potter, how would you like to have a really amazing birthday present?" He looks over his shoulder, and points to the blue box. "You see that? That's a space ship, and it can take us_ anywhere _in the_ entire _universe that you want to go. How about it?"_

 _Harry's never had a birthday present before. He looks at the box, and at the funny man who says he's a doctor, but is a lot more interesting than Harry's doctor who pokes and prods him._

 _It's very tempting._

 _Harry thought space ships would look more like rockets, but this is the first one he's seen, so maybe they look like big blue boxes, too?_

 _And he would like to go, ever so much._

 _Except._

 _"I'm sorry, Mr. Doctor," he says politely. "If I miss tea time, then no one will be around to serve Dudley his biscuits, and Aunt Petunia will be very cross with me." He turns to go._

"Harry," the Doctor calls. He stands back up, watching Harry with a large smile. "What if I told you that it also travels in time? We'll be back before tea time, and with your Aunt none the wiser. How 'bout it?"

Harry stares at the blue box, then nods slowly.

"Fantastic!" the Doctor says, grinning. He holds out his hand to Harry.

Harry hesitates. Then he takes the hand.

The box is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. That's what convinces Harry that the Doctor must be telling the truth, because his box is bigger than Uncle Vernon's entire house, and his toys are fancier and shinier and make cooler noises than any of Dudley's boring old toys.

"Where to, Harry Potter who is almost seven years old?"

"I dunno," Harry says. "We haven't gotten to planets in class yet, but I read a book that says Saturn is very pretty?"

The Doctor makes a face. "Nah, you don't want to go to Saturn," he says. "Boring, full of art critics and all they can do is talk about how their rings are the best in the galaxy."

Harry blinks.

"How about Bullom Seven? It's a land with nothing but water parks! Or, ooh, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe has the best food ever, I bet they'd make a wicked birthday cake. Or, hm, I think the colony of London Eighteen in the thirty-seventh century built a massive replica of the London Eye, if ferris wheels are your thing... it's the size of an entire planet."

"Um."

The Doctor pauses, realizing that Harry is staring at him, wide-eyed. "Oh, Harry," he says. "Forget all of that. I have a brilliant idea."

He flips a bunch of switches, turns dials, and the box that is not a box shakes and makes loud noises.

Then it shudders and stops.

"Harry Potter," the Doctor says, "I think a birthday party is in order."

He opens the door, and there's a park with sunshine and seagulls cawing above them, and everything is beautiful and smells like the sea. At least, Harry thinks it smells like the sea, but he's never been so he can only assume that if there is a sea nearby, it must smell like this.

And there's a red blanket, and two people who are smiling and eating a picnic. They look up as the Doctor and Harry approach.

"Terribly sorry to bother you," the Doctor says, "but we're new to the neighborhood and were wondering if we might join you for a while?"

The two people are a man and a woman, and instead of thinking this is odd they just nod and say, "Of course!" and invite Harry and the Doctor to sit with them on the blanket.

The man is smiling, and he has black hair that sticks in every direction like Harry's, and glasses too, although is aren't held together by tape in the middle. And the woman is very pretty, she offers Harry a slice of their cake and asks if he'd like any watermelon, and she looks at him with eyes that are as green as his own.

Harry thinks that if he could have anyone in the world as parents, it would be these two people, who are named Lily and James and they have just graduated from school and are getting married soon.

James ruffles Harry's hair and Lily asks if he'd like a chicken sandwich and they laugh with the Doctor and at some point James produces a ball that looks almost like a soccer ball but is bright red instead and asks if Harry would like to play catch.

It is the best birthday that Harry has ever had.

And at the end of the day, James and Lily roll up their blanket and collect their basket, and James says, "It was very nice to meet you, Harry. You know, we were talking about having a little boy of our own some day, and we thought about naming him Harry, just like you!"

"I'm sure you'll be excellent parents," the Doctor says.

Harry just smiles.

Lily gives him a kiss on the cheek and presses a chocolate biscuit into his hands, and says that she's very happy she was able to meet him. And she gives him a look, a little sad, and opens her mouth to say something, but then stops herself.

Harry waves goodbye and follows the Doctor back into his blue box.

"Did you have a good birthday?" the Doctor asks.

"The best!" Harry says. "Ms. Lily and Mr. James were so nice, I wish..." he trails off.

The Doctor stops pushing buttons for a moment and looks at Harry. "What do you wish?" he asks.

"I wish I could have stayed with them," Harry says. "And then they wouldn't need a baby named Harry because they could have me-Harry, and we could be a... a..." he stops, unable to say the word.

The Doctor kneels down in front of him and pulls Harry close. "Some day," he says, "you will have a family of your own, who love you and care about you. That is my birthday present to you, Harry Potter: the knowledge that someday in the future, you will have friends and family and you will feel loved. Someday."

"Soon?" Harry asks.

"Soon enough," the Doctor says. "Now, let's get you back to your Aunt and Uncle's house before you're late for tea, alright?"


End file.
